HCM CITY — The Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank, HDB: HOSE) announced the appointment of a vice chairman and a chief executive officer (CEO) on April 2.

The announcement ceremony took place at HDBank’s headquarters in HCM City and 154 online conference points nation-wide with the participation of its board of directors, board of management, supervisory board, and employees throughout the country.

It complied with the Government’s “social distancing” orders and regulations issued by the health sector.

According to Decision No. 66/2020/QD-HĐQT, dated April 2, 2020, Nguyễn Hữu Đặng has been appointed as a new vice chairman of HDBank’s board of directors.

Phạm Quốc Thanh has been appointed the new CEO of HDBank.

Nguyễn Hữu Đặng, a new vice chairman of HDBank’s board of directors. — Photo courtesy of the bank

Đặng, 50, has a master’s degree in banking and finance. He formerly worked for the State Bank of Vietnam at its Đồng Tháp Province branch and for VietinBank before joining HDBank and working for 21 years in various positions.

He was the CEO of the bank since 2010 and made important contributions to the booming development period of HDBank today.

Thanh, also 50, has two bachelor’s degrees in banking and finance and foreign languages, and has worked for some major banks, including HSBC Bank for 10 years. He has been deputy CEO of HDBank since 2013.

With the decision to appoint new senior leaders, supplementing the strength of a large, experienced and dedicated leadership team, HDBank is on its way to conquering new targets.

Speaking at the online conference via Zoom, Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo, standing vice chairwoman of HDBank’s Board of Directors, told employees that as the country fought Covid-19, right in the early days HDBank established an emergency committee for pandemic prevention, and this committee has performed effectively.

In addition, HDBank issued credit financing programmes and practical incentives for businesses in the healthcare industry those involved in the price stabilization programme.

HDBank joined hands with the rest of the country to combat the pandemic by donating VNĐ10 billion (US$422,891) through the Vietnamese Fatherland Front for efforts to prevention Covid-19 and drought and saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta and 1,000 medical beds worth VNĐ3 billion to the HCM City Department of Health.

Besides, it has offered preferential credit packages to customers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and enterprises that supply drugs and medical equipment at preferential interest rates to enable them to meet the demand and keep prices steady and for other enterprises to pay employees’ salaries.

Meanwhile, the bank continues to ensure protection of its staff and customers and comply with the recommendations of the Prime Minister and the health sector for combating the pandemic.

Thảo also praised branches and transaction offices for their efforts to fight the pandemic. Departments such as the operations division, information technology, human resources, communications-marketing, etc. ensured the bank achieved its business targets in the first quarter of 2020 and even exceeded them.

She also instructed HDBank employees to always look for opportunities in challenges at work. “Our employees may not be the smartest but the best.”

At the end of 2019 the bank’s total consolidated assets were worth nearly VNĐ230 trillion ($9.76 billion), profit before tax for the year was VNĐ5.018 trillion ($$212.27 million), an increase of 25.3 per cent compared to 2018.

HDBank is once again among the top banks in terms of profitability with return on average assets (ROAA) of over 1.8 per cent and the return on average equity (ROAE) of 21.6 per cent.

As of December 31, 2019, HDBank has total outstanding loans of VNĐ153 trillion while its NLP ratio has been controlled at 0.98 per cent, placing it in top tier in the banking sector for years. In the past year HDBank received approval from of the State Bank of Vietnam to apply Basel II standards ahead of schedule.

In joining hands to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, HDBank is offering many preferential programmes for its customers. It has set aside VNĐ10 trillion to lend to producers and corporates who supply goods and services to supermarkets at interest rates starting at 6.5 per cent to stabilise consumer markets, VNĐ5 trillion for small and medium-sized enterprises and set aside VNĐ3 trillion for cutting fees and interest rates to support enterprises that supply drugs and medical equipment for use during the pandemic.